Cosmopolitan Identity – historical origins and contemporary relevance

Abstract

The idea of cosmopolitanism owes its origin to Cynic Diogenes of Sinope, who first proclaimed – “I am cosmopolitan!”. Although this identification was primarily negative in the sense that he did not declare it with the intention of becoming the first “citizen of the world” but to express disagreement with the laws of the ancient poleis, the Stoic school had consequently taken his initial idea and turned it into a full concept – the unity of humanity on the account of shared ability for reasoning. At the beginning of the 21st century this ancient idea is considered to be a well-known concept. Indeed, cosmopolitanism is today mostly regarded as a certain idea, or behavioral pattern, represented by cosmopolitans or citizens of the world. Cosmopolitans, in turn, are those who consider themselves unfettered by the boundaries of existing political communities and their loyalty is not given to any particular political community, but they owe their loyalty to the more universal community of all human beings. By itself, this definition is true, but it is also too narrow because the cosmopolitan idea involves so much more. From its former understanding as a mere detachment form a political system based on national states and a notion of ''openness to the world'', cosmopolitanism is now starting to be considered as a legal and political framework, as an ethical ideal and vision of justice, as well as a type of identity choice of individuals. This essay will try to indicate that what all these different contemporary views on cosmopolitanism share is the vision of social belonging that crosses political boundaries that are imposed on us, as well as a construction of the new cosmopolitan identities that have just begun to erode our current understanding of the political community.